May 9, 2019

In order to confront the ever-growing postmodern fears of contemporary living, Natalie Mering, aka Weyes Blood, went to a new place — one between helpless and hopeful, a place where even an ocean liner can rise from the sea more than a century after it sank. Appropriately, the noise of this specific moment is as revisionist and stylized as the titular premise, as Titanic Rising sounds like an amalgamation of the pop-rock of Mering’s parents’ generation — from ‘a simpler…

From the moment Vampire Weekend stepped off the Columbia University campus and quite literally into Rostam Batmanglij’s “studio” apartment to record songs about Lil Jon, the United Nations, and their own grammatical inclinations, they have been nothing if not indie-pop royalty. The band’s self-titled…

From its whispery, ethereal opener, “Contact,” Big Thief’s new album is permeated by an air of otherness. Adrianne Lenker’s voice is an aural phenomenon, Buck Meek’s guitar a beautiful enigma. U.F.O.F. is variegated, with black eyes, auburn hair, orange wind; “Orange is the color of my love…